Gaming machines which provide players awards in primary or base games are well known. Gaming machines generally require the player to place or make a wager to activate the primary or base game. In such known gaming machines, the amount of the wager made on the base game by the player may vary. For instance, the gaming machine may enable the player to wager a minimum number of credits, such as one credit (e.g., one penny, nickel, dime, quarter or dollar) up to a maximum number of credits, such as five credits. In many of these gaming machines, the award is based on the player obtaining a winning symbol or symbol combination and on the amount of the wager (e.g., the higher the wager, the higher the award). Symbols or symbol combinations which are less likely to occur usually provide higher awards. One reason these gaming machines are popular is because an amateur, novice or inexperienced player can play most gaming machines at the player's own pace, with no required skills, strategy or risk evaluation and perform as well as a seasoned or experienced player. As such, because the symbols or symbol combinations are randomly determined (and thus the awards provided to the player are randomly determined), winning lucrative awards does not require any skill, strategy or risk evaluation.
Certain other gaming machines include games such as video poker and blackjack which involve certain player strategy or decision-making. In these games, the player decides which cards to hold in draw-type poker games and whether to take additional cards in blackjack-type card games. These games generally require a certain level of strategy to be successful.
Gaming machines in certain jurisdictions involve a skill event, such as an event requiring player dexterity, to be successful. These gaming machines do not generate outcomes purely upon a random determination, but rather employ an element of player skill, such as strategy or timing of inputs by the player, to determine or otherwise influence one or more outcomes. For example, these games employ player skill to determine which award or set of awards will be used to determine the award provided to the player. In these games, because the award is determined based on one or more inputs representing an element of player skill, a certain level of skill is typically required to be successful.
In view of the reluctance of certain lower-skilled, unskilled or non-strategic players from playing such gaming machines, certain jurisdictions set a minimum amount that a gaming machine must pay back, on average, in association with the play of such skill-based games. While such minimum average expected paybacks are beneficial for lesser-skilled players (and thus provide an average expected payback floor for such players), the presence of these minimum average expected paybacks may not be viewed as beneficial for higher-skilled players. That is, the utilization of a minimum average expected payback for less-skilled players places downward pressure on the award amounts which can be paid to higher-skilled players. Put differently, the amounts being provided to lower-skilled players as a result of these minimum average expected paybacks are amounts which may have otherwise been provided to higher-skilled players as result of their typical or expected higher skill-based inputs.
Accordingly, there is a continuing need to provide new and different gaming systems and methods which determine awards for skill-based games and distribute awards in an equitable manner.